Relocation Litigation And Children’s Best Interests: Revisiting Burgess 1
This article appeared in a 1999 State Bar of Texas Family Law Section Report. It was adapted from the relocation monograph described as Social Science and Relocation Litigation. Readers interested in an abbreviated overview of the monograph will find this article helpful, but it lacks the documentation of the more complete publication (e.g., 20 versus 199 endnotes).
The article discusses the relevance and utility of social science in relocation disputes, and it Continue reading →
Social Science and Relocation Litigation
This treatment of relocation issues includes everything in Social Science and Children’s Best Interests in Relocation Cases plus all the material that was deleted from that article because of the journal’s space limitations. In addition to the topics described in Social Science and Children’s Best Interests in Relocation Cases, this monograph covers an overview of legal and policy issues in relocation cases, a discussion of case law (with citations to 39 cases and 16 articles in law publications), a list of factors to consider in relocation litigation proposed by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, greater elaboration of Continue reading →
Parental Alienation Syndrome in Court
Mental health professionals increasingly diagnose Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) in child custody matters. Critics of this diagnostic label, however, believe that it lacks an adequate scientific foundation and that testimony regarding this diagnosis, its course, and its treatment should be inadmissible.
This monograph, originally prepared as a chapter for a manual on expert witness testimony Continue reading →
Overnight Access for Young Children
In 1994 the Texas Supreme Court Committee on Child Custody was considering a recommendation of no overnight access between children under the age of three and their non custodial parents. In this written commentary to the Committee, Dr. Warshak argues that
such a proposal is inconsistent with child developmental theory, research, and common sense. He points out the significant benefits Continue reading →
Child Custody: Reform, Research, and Common Sense: Testimony to U.S. Commission
In April 1995, Dr. Warshak was invited to testify before a hearing on custody and visitation conducted by the U.S. Commission on Child and Family Welfare. His remarks offer a detailed, but concise and clear review of the major conclusions reached by divorce researchers and seven specific recommendations to maximize the well-being of children after divorce.
Among the topics covered are the harm caused by conventional approaches to custody and Continue reading →
Keeping Fathers Involved
This essay, based on remarks to the American Orthopsychiatry Association in 1994, focuses on the role mental health professionals play in perpetuating gender stereotypes that interfere with healthy father-child relationships after divorce.
Dr. Warshak analyzes the biases that support such practices as Continue reading →
Joint Custody Is Feasible
This 1993 essay, based on remarks delivered to the Association of Family & Conciliation Courts, defends joint custody as realistic and beneficial. It discusses the facts that are often ignored by joint custody’s detractors, and describes why some social scientists are reluctant to support joint custody.
Dr. Warshak illustrates conventional custody’s harmful impact on children by analyzing a parody Continue reading →
The Custody Revolution: Beyond Fathers’ Rights and Mothers’ Rights (transcript of speech)
This speech inspired a standing ovation from the audience at the 1993 national conference of the Children’s Rights Council. It begins by describing the context in which the Texas Custody Research Project originated, and then recaps the project’s main findings, including “the gender connection.”
Dr. Warshak discusses the type of fundamental changes he advocates and, in a more personal Continue reading →
Father Custody and Child Development: A Review and Analysis of Psychological Research
This 1986 journal article begins with a discussion of three different strategies used by social scientists to study father-custody families, and analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of each approach.
The next section reviews the results of research comparing children’s functioning in father-custody and mother custody homes. Children’s reactions to the separation are examined as Continue reading →
